The last two alignments I had there both wound up with loose parts in the suspension - from two different locations, even. Be sure to go through and make sure everything is tight - especially the jamb nuts on any aftermarket suspension. I went back through and tightened up my JKS tie rod and track bar - they were flat out loose and clunking.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Well, still haven't washed her yet. It was on the docket for today but spent it engaged in other pursuits. Yesterday, did the every-two-months detail session on the VW (wash, windows, wipe down interior, vacuum). Started on the Jeep. Took out all the kiddie stuff and used it for a dump run. Vacuumed it out.

The current curb weight (according to the dump scale which is +/- 20lbs) is 4560lbs. Not a featherweight by any means.

And today's Jeep project was tie rod ends! Mine weren't "bad" but they certainly weren't good either. They were in the state of "tie rod rotates easily by hand" but not at the point where they clunked or moved up and down. Replaced all with Moog. Definitely impressed with the Moog parts, they were substantially more beefy than the OEM TREs. The worst ones were the two on the drag link.

Did a tape measure alignment. No wander, steering wheel dead straight, first try! And the driving experience is certainly improved - there's no more wander and the response is more direct. The wife had complained that the steering was too vague and it was hard to drive sometimes without steering too far and then correcting. So I made her feel the difference between the OEM TREs (wiggle easily by hand) and the Moog (won't even move by hand). Voila! Now the wife thinks it was money well-spent!

I'll probably get my wash on tomorrow and take pics of the new wheels.

Up next weekend is another stab at the power steering leak. Have new O-rings, new PS cooler (mine appears to be mostly blocked) and hoses all around. Except for the top high-pressure line. That one was spendy and there's no apparent issue with it.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Well, still haven't washed her yet. It was on the docket for today but spent it engaged in other pursuits. Yesterday, did the every-two-months detail session on the VW (wash, windows, wipe down interior, vacuum). Started on the Jeep. Took out all the kiddie stuff and used it for a dump run. Vacuumed it out.

The current curb weight (according to the dump scale which is +/- 20lbs) is 4560lbs. Not a featherweight by any means.

And today's Jeep project was tie rod ends! Mine weren't "bad" but they certainly weren't good either. They were in the state of "tie rod rotates easily by hand" but not at the point where they clunked or moved up and down. Replaced all with Moog. Definitely impressed with the Moog parts, they were substantially more beefy than the OEM TREs. The worst ones were the two on the drag link.

Did a tape measure alignment. No wander, steering wheel dead straight, first try! And the driving experience is certainly improved - there's no more wander and the response is more direct. The wife had complained that the steering was too vague and it was hard to drive sometimes without steering too far and then correcting. So I made her feel the difference between the OEM TREs (wiggle easily by hand) and the Moog (won't even move by hand). Voila! Now the wife thinks it was money well-spent!

I'll probably get my wash on tomorrow and take pics of the new wheels.

Up next weekend is another stab at the power steering leak. Have new O-rings, new PS cooler (mine appears to be mostly blocked) and hoses all around. Except for the top high-pressure line. That one was spendy and there's no apparent issue with it.

I did a big in-depth cleaning on mine as well today! The weather was perfect for cleaning. I did all four TREs over last year with the Moog units and was also thoroughly impressed. They have been holding up superbly. And I as well did my allignment with a tape measure, having noticed no abnormal tire wear and the steering is how I like it, I'm starting to wonder if a precise machine allignment on these vehicles is important. Perhaps an allignment check wouldn't hurt but I was able to save $70 and I think its been 3 years now since mines been on an allignment rack.

I've done enough TREs at this point that I have my technique down. The tally has to be approaching 50 at this point. On my last Audi I did them and went for an alignment (4-wheel independent suspension with toe affected by caster changes). The toe was correct with a tenth of a degree using my normal methods. I'll keep an eye on tread wear but to be honest I am pretty confident in my abilities at this point.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Wow, the WJ is a heavy girl! I would not be surprised if I am right up there with all the tools and crap I carry around. Good to hear the Moog tie rod end install went well. Did you add a shot of grease to them after the install? How tight did you get on the castle nuts?

~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~

Well, I'm only 200lbs over listed curb weight. With a ~50lb bag of tools, misc JKS parts, Rubi wheels, and the MiniMax up front. I didn't add any grease, they appeared to be pretty well greased already. I do a lube service with every oil change, I figure they'll be fine for the next 3500 miles.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Oh that is right, WJJeeps has a variety of weights lifted for the different Trims and 2wd/4wd. It lists mine as being, round about 4000 pounds on the dot. But as it sits now, I for see it being another couple hundred pounds on top of that.

Yeah I saw that mini-max and it looks so awesome, I want one! They have a modular one now I believe where you can run a the tow bar and a bull bar. Would be pretty sweet.

Huh, alright. I was just wondering. I figured the grease in them was just enough from the factory to get by from rusting or something like that. Oh, speaking off, may want to slather them in grease or shoot them with some paint. After ~10 months there is a tiny bit of surface rust on them. I hit mine with a squirt of grease shortly after install. My rational being, "eh it can't hurt".

~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~

I looked at the pictures again and I am really liking it. The Bar has the tabs for shackles which are perfect. Now I see how the brackets bolt to the frame and then the bar bolts to the brackets obviously. However, I was wondering what makes it modular... the fact that bar bolts to the brackets and is not one solid piece? Would a bull bar mount to the outside of the brackets?

I noticed some rust previous to the salt months. Just the rain in general seemed to kick start the natural process. I almost wish I painted them when I got them but, really is not a big deal.

~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ~

Curse you and your lack of salt. I'm personally looking for a mounting solution for my two KC hilites I had to take off so I've been looking at small safari bars and the such. Don't want anything that comes up higher than the bumper and don't want it wide/wrapping around. My main worry about the safari bar by Westin is the brackets look like they murder approach angle. That and it limits the angles from which you can pull from the front tow hooks.

The MiniMax solves both of those problems. No hit on approach angle and keeps all the options for recovery/bars/winch/whatever. The reason it is called "modular" is that the design philosophy allows multiple configurations with maximum flexibility. You have the base brackets, you can add mounts for a bull bar, you can add shackle mounts, and you can tie it all together with the crossover bar/front receiver. The previous version was all welded so from a manufacturing standpoint they were not flexible at all. This allows a cheaper price point with less overhead and more options for the customer.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hopefully Richard doesn't mind me stepping in and giving further explanation. If you do, feel free to tell me to take it to IM, and edit this post.

The original MiniMax design was all welded, with two holes threaded for 3/8" bolts in each end for a bull bar mounting tab (they came from us plugged, but you could order the tabs separately and that way add them for cheap). Fairly early on, and after having a customer try to order just the tabs (thinking that they could use them to relocate a bull bar that way), we worked with our engineer to redesign everything so that the receiver/shackle tab combo cross-tube could be bolted to the mounting brackets with zero loss in strength.

With that redesign, we also designed shackle tabs that could be bolted on in place of the cross-tube. Each bolt-on is optional, which is what makes it a "modular" system. Once the standard brackets are mounted to the WJs uniframe, you can mix-and-match your choice of shackle tabs, bull bar relocation mounts, or the MiniMax receiver/shackle tab crosstube. You can do all that with no more than a $50 hit (+ shipping).

We're working on making different base mounts for WKs, WK2s, KKs, and KJs which would make the tabs, bull bar relocation mounts, as well the MiniMax truly a modular system for uniframe Jeeps in general. Those mounts took a back seat to getting our new stand alone shackle tabs for WJs up and going, but they are closer to the front-burner now.

In the mean time, and to clarify: There is a slight loss of approach angle with everything we make. There's just no way we can make a product that sticks out past the fascia to mount a D-ring or receiver-mounted winch plate without having a few degrees loss. We've done everything we can to minimize the loss of approach angle, but customers can feel free to bounce our products off of rocks if they need to...their warranty covers any structural damage to the product that might result. In the not-too distant future we expect to have a skid plate available that will help protect the radiator support as well.

And today's Jeep project was tie rod ends! Mine weren't "bad" but they certainly weren't good either. They were in the state of "tie rod rotates easily by hand" but not at the point where they clunked or moved up and down. Replaced all with Moog. Definitely impressed with the Moog parts, they were substantially more beefy than the OEM TREs. The worst ones were the two on the drag link.

Did a tape measure alignment. No wander, steering wheel dead straight, first try! And the driving experience is certainly improved - there's no more wander and the response is more direct. The wife had complained that the steering was too vague and it was hard to drive sometimes without steering too far and then correcting. So I made her feel the difference between the OEM TREs (wiggle easily by hand) and the Moog (won't even move by hand). Voila! Now the wife thinks it was money well-spent!

My WJ wanders all over the place, gets really old. I checked the TRE's and they do rotate by hand. Based on your results, looks like I have a big RockAuto order to place...